Mads Mikkelsen stars in a grand epic of the sort they don't make any more. You need to see this on a big screen with a big bucket of popcorn.
Mikkelsen plays Ludvig Kahlen who in the 1750's attempted to turn the Jutland heath into farmable land. Using outcasts and others looked down upon by society he makes a go of it, but he runs afoul of a noble who wants to control the heath for his own ends.
Magnificent costumed epic is something you give yourself over to. This is a the cinematic equivalent of getting lost in a great novel. It's full of people and places and images and sensations that despite being projected on a big screen you feel as though you're slipping into another place and time.
I was blown away by this film. Seeing this in the middle of seeing lesser American epics (especially the greatly disappointing KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON) I was reminded what great filmmaking could be. Where most other filmmakers want to make epics they remember the size and the flash, they forget the people and the humanity. For big films you need big emotions, something most recent epics are lacking. However wit THE PROMISED LAND director Nickolaj Arcel makes us feel. He puts the emotion up there on the screen, and while it might be over done compared to other films, in the frame work of this film it is pitch perfect.
I loved this film to death. It is an absolute joy.
Highly recommended.
The film is on the Oscar Short List for The Best International Feature
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